


Everyday passes and I still burn for an end to this chapter

by gay_hp_ships



Series: Re-writing the darkest minds around my lesbian ocs [1]
Category: The Darkest Minds Series - Alexandra Bracken
Genre: Book 2: Never Fade, Female Friendship, Multi, Passing Out, and are definitely in a relationship, but like, cabin in the woods, i dunno, injured Ruby Daly, like their domestic and dating and kiss, main two characters have a weird relationship, maybe it'll turn into a major plot point, only refer to each other as best friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-24 19:28:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30077205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gay_hp_ships/pseuds/gay_hp_ships
Summary: Adelaide and Alexandra stumble upon Ruby in the worst situation when they are needed most.orI rewrite the last few books in the "The Darkest Minds" series to force my lesbian oc's into the plot.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Ruby Daly/Liam Stewart, Vida Bautista/Charles Carrington "Chubs" Meriwether IV
Series: Re-writing the darkest minds around my lesbian ocs [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2212935
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

"We'll have to travel up to the highway, I'm not getting any signal" Alexandra said, dropping her hand back down so it sat by her side, the black phone still gripped in her fingers as she let out a sigh.  
I resisted the urge to whine, standing up from the large rock that I had pushed snow off of just a few minutes before, when we had first arrived in the small circular clearing of trees, the closest place from the cabin that service was normally attainable, letting my skirt and cloak fall down to midway down my calves. "Do we have to" I said, almost grinning when she looked at me, her expression telling me she was already over my complaining. "I am sure your family is fine, and besides, do we wanna run the risk of someone seeing us and reporting us to the PSFs?".   
She sighed and tilted her head to look at me. "My parents said they would be here today, and I just want to make sure they're okay, plus, we've been to the highway before and weren't caught" she said, hearing the small worry that I had tried to cover with laziness. She offered me her hand, which was covered by fur lined leather, and I reached out and took it in my own wool clad one.   
"But last time my Dad came out here to give us supplies he said that there were more cars" I said, stepping towards her so we were next to each other, both of us turning slightly so we were facing each other.   
She was one of the few people I knew who didn't get tired of me needing constant reassurance, simply smiling at me and telling me the same thing she had said a minute ago. "We'll be fine, I won't let anyone see us" she said, giving me a soft smiling before jerking her head in the direction of the highway, and I gave a short nod in response, letting her know it was okay.   
We began to walk out of the clearing, away from my parents log cabin that had become our home for the last few years, ever since she had stumbled upon it when she was on the run when we were both eleven, and we decided to stay together. It took my parents quite a bit of convincing, but they eventually gave up fighting me against it. Every time they left after running her out she'd be back the next week. Not to mention it meant our family's could take it in turns to provide us with supplies, which took pressure off them in the food and gas crisis the country was going through.   
We climbed over the roots of one of the large pine tress, the snowmaking a soft noise every time we trod on it. "You okay?" Alex asked as I stumbled over one of the more hidden roots, though managing to balance myself with the assistance of her hands, which was steady and helped pull me up.   
I nodded, straightening and giggling. "Of course, how would I survive without you" I said as she pulled me to her side, wrapping one of her arms around my shoulder, giggling as well.   
"You'd manage" she said laughing alongside her as we both saw the ground curve up to meet the tar road. We both got slower, trying to listen for any noise before we emerged onto the road.   
"Have you got any service?" I asked after a minute of complete silence, a chill that had not been present before settling on my skin, wanting nothing more than to do what we had to do and then get back to our home.   
She pulled the phone out of the pocket of her jacket where she had put it earlier. "Not enough, come on, once we're out of the tree cover we'll probably get some more bars" she said, pulling me closer to the road, though my feet refused to move.   
She turned back to me, gently rubbing her thumbs over my hands, even though I couldn't properly feel it through my gloves, it was still comforting. "We'll be okay, come on, just a few minutes for me to see or send a text and then we can go back home" she said, before leading me to the road again.   
Both of our leather shoes clicked against the tar of the road, but once we were there Alexandra broke into a smile. "You were right, just got caught up in a snowstorm, they'll be here later today".   
I don't know how we had missed it in all our caution around coming up to the road, but the truck was quickly coming towards us. "Alexandra" I said, grabbing her wrist and about to pull her off the road before I got a good look at the occupants of the car.   
In the front seat was a man with dark brown hair, a slight grin and a look of satisfaction on his face. In the backseat, however was a girl with a muzzle over her mouth and her arms tied behind her back. She was one of us, a kid.   
Alex's head snapped to me, a silent plea in her eyes. "Adelaide" she said, but she didn't need to ask, as I raised my hand slightly, raising the image of what I wanted to do into my head.   
It happened instantaneously, a wall of flames erupted from the asphalt, and the man who was driving suddenly slammed on his breaks to prevent his car from going through it.   
"Well done" Alex said, as I dropped the flames, her rushing off the side of the road and then back onto it one she got around the fire, me following just behind her. She went to the drivers side, and I could hear the door open and then her talking to him. I went to the back seat and tore open the door, trying to ignore the ways my hands trembled, as they always did when I used my abilities for anything more than lighting a candle or small fire. The girl in the back seats eyes were trained on Alex as she told the man something about going to sleep, but I focused instead on pulling her out of the car. She tumbled onto the ground, and suddenly began to try and fight her restraints.   
"Hey, hey, you're alright" I said, gently placing one of my hands on her shoulders, noticing the wat she flinched, and I could only hope it was because of the looming heat and not a fear of me. My other hand reached into one of the pockets of my cloak and pulled out a pocket knife. Flipping open I began to saw through the leather of the muzzle, just as Alex came over and pulled out hers, undoing the zip ties around her wrists.   
When I was finally able to pull the muzzle away I through it away from us, onto the snow covered side of the road. She sucked in a sharp breath, moving her arms around so she could kind of lift herself off the road, and I realized just how underdressed she was, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. "Than-thank you" she managed to mutter out before one of her hands came up to touch her throat.   
"Don't worry about it, is there anywhere you're hurt?" Alex asked, crawling around to kneel next to me, our hands finding each other and intertwining, even if it was just for a second.   
She nodded, gulping down another breath. "My back, I, I got stabbed". I stood up and walked behind her, dropping Alex's hands, as she rubbed the other girls back, trying to be comforting.   
It was bleeding pretty badly, and certainly wasn't a clean wound. "We have to get you back and wash it okay" she gave a short nod, her breath, while still staggered becoming a little bit quieter. "Do you think you can walk?" another nod again.   
I jerked my head slightly, a silent message to Alex, and she gave me a steady nod, wrapping her arms underneath one of the girls, while I did the same on the other. "We're going to lift you up, alright" I said, and then we heaved her up.   
She didn't have time to steady herself though before her eyes closed and she collapsed onto the highway.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, hey, you're alright" I said in a gentle tone as the girl woke up, her eyes wide in a mixture of what looked to be confusion and panic, leaning in such a way that made me worried she would try and jump out of the bed. She had passed out for a few hours, giving me enough time to sow up her back and wash it thoroughly.   
"Where....where am I?" she said after realizing that we were the same people who had rescued her a few hours before, falling back into the bed.   
"Arkansas" Alexandra sat down next to me on the edge of her bed, her hand finding it's way to mine and intertwining our fingers, giving it a firm squeeze as though to confirm to me that she was there. "Near the Oklahoma state border".   
"How long have I been out?" was her next question.   
"A while" I said, giving her a look of sympathy as she grimaced, the pain in her back being fully realized. "We found you around three yesterday afternoon, and It's four in the morning now".   
A different look suddenly came over her face. "I'm sorry for keeping you up, if you want I'll be fine by myself if you want to go and sleep" she said, as though she wasn't the one who was injured.   
"It's fine, my parents should be here any minute now to deliver supplies, we'll go to bed after we unpack them, and give you a once over" Alexandra said in a tone of almost humor.   
She gave a small shiver, causing me to lean closer almost. "Are you cold?" I asked, and when she nodded, I gave a squeeze of my hand, glancing over to the fireplace as the already set up wood burst into low warm flames. "There, the room might take a while to get warm, but it should be better, we normally only keep the fire out in the kitchen going to try and conserve wood" I explained. "How much do you remember of when we found you?" I asked suddenly when I saw the way she looked at me with wide eyes.   
"All of it, I think" she said, her eyes trained of the flames. "I remember you and the flames in front of the car, and you and what you did to Rob" she said, snapping her head back to look between us. We both knew how lucky we had been to escape the camps, being on the more dangerous end of the spectrum. Alexandra would have ended up dead, and I would have been sent to one of the only red camps, just like my sister.   
"I didn't think there were any reds outside of the jamboree program" she said, deciding to address me first.   
That was the name that had been given to the thing that had caused me so much fear and heartache. It was hard for me to accept that a word that had always meant a day of playing games growing up now meant torture. "I was lucky enough to avoid being taken to a camp and getting sorted, I had a cold the day my sister was taken when she was caught using her abilities because they thought she was dangerous, and I went on the run shortly after" I explained, and I felt Alex's grip on my hand tighten.   
She nodded, before looking to Alexandra. "You're an orange?"  
Alex have a firm nod. "Yes, though I'm not really very good at controlling anyone or making them do anything" she said. I was pretty sure that man she had used them on yesterday, she had called him Rob, was the first time she had used them since we had joined forces.   
She bit her lip, as though thinking a decision over. "Maybe I could help teach you".   
"How?" Alex asked, her voice steady and unchanging, though I could sense the slight intrigue that was bubbling to the surface.   
"I'm an orange to" she said, before leaning up, trying to sit up. I quickly moved and pulled the pillows up for her to lean against, before gently helping her to lean back so to not hurt her back, though she still grimaced when the wound brushed against the pillow. "I work with the children's league".   
"The terrorist organization?!" we both said before we had time to think about it rationally, the tone's of surprise and fear seeping into our tones.   
She looked as though she wanted to say something, though couldn't quite bring herself to say it, or as though she didn't know what to say.   
Luckily I did. "We just read, in the papers I mean, that the league is responsible for bombing the capital and a bunch of other attacks" I was surprised to find that I was looking for answers about whether or not it was true.   
"They try to expose what the camp's do to us, and yes they may have bombed the capital but they are a lot more tame now" she said, though I could see the turmoil behind her face. "Besides, nearly every news source that is still operating is under Gray's thumb".   
"You don't need to tell us that twice" Alex said, a slight bit of anger seeping into her voice. She had always enjoyed reading the news and talking about it, and had a passion for politics and law. "He's a dictator, that's what he is, and he's throwing everyone under the bus to make sure he stays in power, the only thing I don't understand is why people aren't standing up to him, I mean, Hitler most likely stayed in power and people did as he said was because the country was economically profiting, and when we look at other countries who had a dictatorship that was not nearly as profitable like the soviet union the people stood up to him, or at the very least enjoyed the western style of life more, I reckon it's because without kids most people have lost faith, what is the point of doing anything if there isn't a later generation that will be able to inherent it".  
"Alex, I don't think she want's to hear your theory as to why Gray has been able to get away with what he has" I said, shooting the girl a look of apology but she was looking at Alex, who had stood up halfway through her rant and begun pacing the small space between the bed and the wall with a look of curiosity and intrigue. Alex rolled her eyes, but sat down none the less. "Now that that's over, I think it's time for introductions, I'm Adelaide Misturde" I said, smiling at her instead of offering her my hand. It took a long time before Alex trusted herself to be able to touch me.   
"I'm Alexandra Hiltion" Alex said, sharing my expression.   
"Ruby Daly" she said looking between the two of us.   
-  
"Sorry about the lack of fresh vegetables and fruits, they were already hard to find and with winter they dried right up" Mrs Hiltion said as she began to unpack the grocery bags she had brought in with her.   
The four of us, Mrs Hiltion, Alex, Ruby and I, stood in the kitchen. I had tried to convince Ruby to stay in bed and rest, but she was hellbent on helping. Alex and Ruby were unpacking the snacks into the pantry while I was going through what would be put in the freezer underneath the fridge in the kitchen or taken to the one in the laundry room.   
"What did you say your name was?" Mrs Hiltion asked looking to Ruby.   
"Ruby" she said with a smile, the older woman nodding.   
"A beautiful name, we fostered a girl named Ruby for a few months" she said, before going back to unloading the grocery's.   
"Oh yeah, I remember her, she was the one who had the pink streak in her hair" Alex said, closing up the pantry before going over to the kettle, "Do you want a cup of coffee before you go?".   
"No, I better get back on the road before sunrise" she said, before wrapping her arms around her daughter, pulling her into a tight hug and I could see the tears on her dark skin. "Your Dad sends his love, says he misses you, and can't wait to see you again".   
"Tell him I miss him and can't wait to see him again to" Alex said with a smile, before separating from her mother.   
"Come here Adelaide" she gestured to me, simply brushing it off when I shook my head and tried to say no. "Come on, get in here".   
I allowed myself to be pulled into the hug, feeling the maternal woman's warmth surround me, a motherly force I was unfamiliar with, only getting it occasionally from the woman in front of me and never from my own Mother.   
"Tell your parents I said hi okay" she said to me and smiled when I nodded, before she waved to Ruby and then went out to her car.   
"On that note, do we want to make breakfast?" Alex asked, a slight smile on her face.   
"How does toast, egg and bacon sound?" Ruby asked, and with a short nod it was decided. "Though I warn you I have little to no cooking experience".   
I gave a little chuckle, shaking my head slightly as I covered my mouth with the back of my hand. "Don't worry, I'll help you, and worse case scenario and you set the house on fire I can probably control it".   
We fell into comfortable small talk, joking and talking about whatever random thing we could think of, constantly laughing. It was kind of scary how easily Ruby fit into me and Alex's dynamic, knowing where things were, grabbing the bread and finding the toaster, and the conversation came easily.   
"You would think that I would have figured it out sooner" Alex said as the three of us sat down at the table that was just a step away from the kitchen island. "Considering the fact that both my parents were black and I am just tan, and only when standing next to Del, who looks like a Victorian era ghost, but nope, my parents had to sit me down at 10 and tell me that I was adopted" she said with a laugh.   
"What about you Adelaide, any traumatizing childhood stories you can entertain me with?" Ruby asked, her cheeks a flushed from laughing and her lips upturned in a smile.   
"Too many to count, but for the general overview, let's just say if I look like, to quote Alex, a Victorian era ghost, my parents are Victorian era ghosts, rich ones at that" I said, and upon seeing the intrigue behind her eyes I continued. "My parents act like it's a hundred years ago, so nothing out of the ordinary, and they were both very cold while I lived with them, I was mainly raised by a nanny" I explained, deciding to leave out the details of my parents prejudices.   
Ruby looked as though she had something to say, but was interrupted when the door suddenly blew in, filling the warm room with cold air. Two of the people at the door had guns, a dark skinned man in a flannel and jeans and a girl who's hair was blue tufts, and were pointing them our way. I reached out to Alex and felt myself relax a little bit when she grabbed onto it, her own grip tight.   
"Guys it's alright, I'm alright" Ruby said, and it was enough for them to lower their guns and come spilling into the room, two other men pouring in after them. One of them had blonde hair and his eyes were wide as he tried to scramble past the rest of them and to Ruby, the other one was a light brunette and was tall though wasn't able to carry much presence.   
"What about them?" I heard the female say, and they all collectively looked over to me and Alex, who were now pressed against the wall, watching the scene unfold in front of us, and I could feel myself tense up again.   
Ruby gave us a short nod, letting us know that it was okay. They were friends. "They saved me, I got picked up by Rob and he was gonna take my ass back to a camp, but luckily they found me first".   
The tallest boy walked over to us, the one who was wielding a gun earlier, the shorter woman following behind him. "Thanks for what you did, though I warn you, you left a trail leading nearly right back to this place" he said with a smile before offering his hand to us. "I'm chubs".   
"Adelaide" I answered quickly shaking his hand hoping he wouldn't focus to much on the heat that radiated off my skin. "This is Alex, and thanks for letting us know" is said, jerking my head to my best friend, who smiled and nodded her head.   
"This is Vida" he pointed back to the girl behind him, distracting me enough to look past the both of them to the blonde boy who was looking Ruby up and down with concerned eyes, as though he couldn't quite believe she was okay, a similar look mirrored in Ruby's. The girl nodded our way, though that was about as much of an acknowledgement we were gonna get, before we walked over to Ruby.   
"I'm Jude" The youngest looking of the group said with a smile, looking between Ruby and us. "And that's Liam" he said, pointing back to the other boy, who was still looking Ruby over, though he was now joined by Chubs who was looking at her back, likely at my stitch work.   
"Did you do these?" He said after a moment of looking at them, a tone of shock hidden behind his voice. I gave him a firm nod in response. "This is some of the best stitch work I have seen for months, I don't think I could have topped it".   
"Thanks" I said, a slight blush on my cheeks as he continued to look between the wound and me, and I could feel Alex smiling with pride beside me, taking my hand, intertwining our finger and lifting it up so she could kiss the back of my hand.   
"I left the truck parked on the side of the highway, is there anyway to get here by car?" Chubs asked as he lowered down Ruby's shirt and gave her his nod of approval.   
"Yeah, It's further down on the highway and there's probably a million ways you can end up somewhere that's not here, we can go there now and we'll help guide you back" Alex suggested, and when he nodded she turned back to me. "Be quick".   
I nodded quickly before dashing up the staircase behind the kitchen and onto the second floor where the three bedrooms where located. I walked into mine and Alex's and pulled open the closet. I grabbed out the red woolen cardigan that went with my long skirt, pulling it over my white turtle neck blouse, doing up the buttons before tucking it into my skirts. I then pulled out my black cloak and wrapped it around my shoulder, enjoying the wool lined edges. Since my long hair was done up in a bun with a braid wrapped around it I didn't have to pull it out from underneath the cloak. I slipped out of my slippers and pulled on my black leather shoes, before going back downstairs.   
Alex was already ready and waiting by the door, Chubs next to her. she smiled at me and offered me my pair of gloves, letting me put them on before wrapping one of them in hers.   
"How long have you guys been here?" Chubs asked as we made our way from the cottage and through the forest, over the same roots of pine trees we had walked over a few hours ago.   
"Five years" Alex said as I lifted my skirt up and stepped over the roots, slightly leaning on Alex for support. "Ever since I ran into Adelaide wandering through the forest after getting lost" she said with a slight chuckle at the memory, and I couldn't help the smile that pinched at my lips at the way she looked, glowing in the early morning light that was now peaking through the trees. "How long have you been on the run?".   
"Over six months, Liam, the blonde one who's stick thin, broke us out of our camp" he explained, a smirk forming when the both of us looked at him in shock and admiration.   
"I've done a lot of gutsy things on the run, but I don't think I'd ever have the guts to break out of one of those places" Alex said with a low whistle.  
"It wasn't as good as it sounds, we lost a lot of people, Liam's never quite recovered from the guilt" he said, his lips contorting into a frown as he looked down at the ground, before picking his head up again and looking between us. "What colors are you guys?".   
We had always been paranoid about our colors. We were on the wrong end of the spectrum as my mother would say in her letters that she sent with whoever brought us supplies it was my parents week to cover. We were either killed or turned into dangerous weapons, and that was all people had ever known us for. But this was a friend of Ruby, another orange. Surely he would be fine with it. A quick look to Alex confirmed she though as much as well.   
"I'm an orange" she said, and if he cared he didn't show it on his face as he nodded slowly. "And Adelaide is a red".  
"You guys were smart to stay on the run then" he said as we could suddenly see the road in front of us. "I'm just a plain old blue but I've heard the horror stories".   
"So have we, believe me" I said, doing my best to keep the memory that was always brimming just underneath the surface from coming up for air, knowing even paying attention to it for a second would make me cry.   
The three of us walked out onto the road, and I quickly spotted the truck. The car we had found Ruby in was gone, but I doubted it was missing when Chubs first stumbled upon it by the look on his face.   
Chubs got in the car first before gesturing for us to follow. Alex slid into the passenger seat, while I took the back seat, leaning as close to the metal grate that separated me from them as I could with out it being weird.   
We guided him further down the highway then to a little road that shot off the side, leading down into the trees. It was about half an hour before we got back to the cabin, prolonged by the debate whether or not the car could go over the ice covered stream. Liam was waiting by the front doors, arm crossed and lips pressed in at a tight line, I could see ruby just pass him, head down and fiddling with her hands.   
"When were you going to tell me?" he yelled, little consciousness payed to keeping our existence a secret, though it wasn't that much of an issue, I doubted anyone was on the highway at this point, At Chubs look of confusion he continued. "I know everything".  
That seemed to be enough for Chubs to click into place what he was talking about, breathing a soft "oh".   
Ruby suddenly stepped forward, putting herself in between the two boys, looking between them both desperately. "Will you please listen to me?" she asked, her voice unfamiliar almost. "It was all my idea, all of it, your brother sent us to find the flash drive and in the process we found your friend, we agreed that if we helped him find you, we wouldn't turn any information about you over to the League and we'd help you get to California to find Zu".   
The look that consumed his face was a mixture of panic and fury, never a good mixture.   
"And you know that how?" he screamed, looking at her with a fire in his eyes I had not seen anybody have for so many years that it was almost scary. "And you know her how, exactly?".   
Ruby almost shriveled into herself, wrapping her arms around her stomach.   
"Answer me!" he screamed, somehow louder than before, and I could see her flinch under the pressure.   
"I just... have heard stories from Chubs, I mean" she said, though I could tell it was a quickly thought of excuse.   
Liam suddenly looked past her to Chubs, redirecting his anger with his line of sight. "What else did you tell her?".   
I was surprised at Chubs ability to stay calm despite how fiery Liam's voice was. "Nothing, Lee, you have to calm down, please, sit down and listen".   
Liam however, was having none of it. "I can't believe you, don't you realize they have ways of tracking her down? do you want them to take her in? Zu, we promised that we'd, I though". He had run out of steam, and was now reeling.   
Ruby took the chance to stick her foot in. "He didn't tell me anything about her, other than you were travelling together for a while" she said, seemingly having recovered from the blows earlier, her voice now calm.   
He didn't bother to look at her though simply retorting back with "stay out of this Green, what else did you tell her? what else did she get out of you".  
Even though he didn't seem to notice the effect of the what he did it was almost instantaneous, both of them freezing, Ruby stepping back as though she had been pushed off balance and I had to move quickly to stabilize her.   
"What did you just call her?" Chubs asked, quickly recovering as I held onto Ruby as she steadied herself, before giving me a quick nod to let me know she was alright.   
His anger seemed to double. "What? I'm not allowed to use her name now? what do you want me to call you? what clever codename did the League think up for you? pumpkin? tiger? tangerine?".   
"You called me green"  
"No I didn't" he said sharply, scrunching his face together. "Why the hell would I call you that? I know what you are".   
"You did, you called her Green, you really don't remember?" Chubs confirmed, his on face wracked with emotion.   
"It's okay, it's fine, you can call me whatever you want, it really doesn't matter" Ruby said, and I could tell she was in damage control, trying to calm him down, to ease the look of fear in his face.   
Liam only shot back. "Are you messing with him? are you forcing him to play nice with you?" he suddenly looked to Chubs, and it almost hurt as it registered that he couldn't recognize his friend, at least not in the way he used to be able to.   
"Are you freaking kidding me? after what happened at East River? do I need to remind you that while Clancy Gray turned you into his little poodle, he couldn't even touch me?".   
"I don't, what?" he said, his face suddenly scrunching together again. "What are you talking about?".   
Chubs looked to Ruby, while I turned to face Alex, who was watching the scene as intently as I was, trying to keep up with whatever was going on.   
Liam's voice erupted again, but I decided to ignore it, as I walked over to Ruby, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her inside, knowing it was best for all involved, and she didn't try to resist, allowing me to sit her down at the kitchen island, Alex coming in through the doorway as I did.   
"Can you all just shut up, it's way to early for you guys to be fighting this loudly" I heard Vida's voice scream, and watched as the boys looked up, and I realized she was likely sticking her head out of the window of the room that Alex had told them they could set themselves up in.   
I managed to get Ruby's attention, who stood up and walked to the stairwell. "Vida, come down now, you too Jude" she said, before walking back to where she sat before and resuming the same position.   
I could suddenly see Liam turn and walk down the road, Chubs taking the moment to lean in and tell us that he would work on him, and that they would be back. It was enough for us.  
She looked shell shocked really, like her world had just been shaken up and she couldn't quite believe it.   
"Do you wanna talk?" Alex asked, and we were both surprised when she nodded, looking between the faces in the room.


End file.
